Genetically engineered salmon farmer AquaBounty Technologies has hired Dennis Bryant as its new director of sales.
Bryant was managing director of Ocean Quality USA, part of the now-dissolved Ocean Quality sales operation run jointly by Norwegian salmon farmers Grieg Seafood and Bremnes Seashore.
“Dennis will be a wonderful asset to AquaBounty,” AquaBounty Chief Commercial Officer David Melbourne said in a press release. “With his extensive farmed salmon experience, he will hit the ground running and provide great insight and support as we roll out our groundbreaking sustainable Atlantic salmon to our growing customer base. We are thrilled to have him join the AquaBounty team.”
At Ocean Quality, Bryant was responsible for sales, marketing, distribution and financial results for the company’s portfolio of fresh, farmed Atlantic salmon in the U.S. market. Before that, Bryant was director of program sales for the seafood distributor Buckhead Meat and Seafood of Houston. Bryant also has direct experience in foodservice, having worked with several restaurant groups.
In his new role, Bryant will oversee AquaBounty’s sales initiatives, which include all aspects of building and servicing its growing customer partnerships. The hiring comes at a critical time, as AquaBounty nears full commercialization of its genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon. The company shipped off samples of its GE fish to early potential customers in late February for final quality checks.
When those samples were shipped, AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf declined to name any potential retail partners, but just a couple weeks later, Samuels & Sons, one of the largest seafood wholesalers in the United States, announced it will be one of the first companies to buy and sell AquAdvantage salmon.
“As a company, we’ve always liked to be at the front of the line. We’ve been following AquaBounty for a long time as they’ve developed this product and it’s nice to see it to finally come to fruition,” Samuel & Sons Director of Purchasing Joe Lasprogata told SeafoodSource. “We’ve been doing this for a long time and have seen a lot of new products come to market. Some of them make it and some of them don’t. But we’re willing to give it a shot and share this with our customers, who ultimately decide whether a product is a success or not.”
AquaBounty had originally planned for its first harvest to commence in December, but ended up pushing back the harvest period to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo courtesy of AquaBounty Technologies
